The use of silicon has long been established for infrared optics, such as simple lenses and windows and long-wave detection. An advantage of silicon photonics is its electronic properties, adding the potential of optoelectronic and electro-optic interactions of photons and electrons. This makes possible electrical excitation and manipulation of light as well as optical conversion to electrical signals and even light control of light.
Silicon doping is required to provide conductivity and the ability to electro-optically control light propagation within photonic structures. Unfortunately, the doping of silicon is also associated with a high level of insertion loss. For instance, the insertion loss for undoped silicon is 3-4 dB/cm, while the insertion loss for Boron doped silicon is on the order of 10-15 dB/cm.
Graphene is a material which is conductive and lossless at optical frequencies, so it removes the need for Si doping. The disadvantage of graphene lies in the difficultly of placing the material onto regions of interest and in the desired orientation, as graphene sheets are only one atomic layer thick and expensive to obtain. Accordingly, there is a need for a conductive, lossless photonic bandgap method and apparatus for use with photonic structures.